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GAZETTE
april
1982
Correspondence
The Editor,
12-5-'82
Law Society Gazette,
Blackhall Place,
Dublin 7.
Dear Sir,
The current debate on Garda demands for increased
rights of arrest, restriction of bail and curtailment of an
accused'sright to silence should highlight what I believe to
beasignificantdeficiencyinourCriminal Law. I refer to the
lack, (in the United Kingdom as well as in this country) of
any legal process for the investigation of crime as distinct
from the prosecution of offenders.
In a recent B. B. C. radio programme, a police representa-
tive justified the powers of arrest and detention under the
Prevention ofTerrorism Act in the U.K. (in spite ofthe low
percentage of those arrested who were later prosecuted) on
the grounds that invaluable information was obtained from
persons interrogated and against whomno cause forfurther
proceedings was found. In other words, persons were being
arrested, not on suspicion of having committed crimes but
on suspicion of having knowledge of crime, and assuming
that such persons would of choice be unco-operative with
police inquiries, this was the only method of interrogation
available to the authorities.
On the other hand, in the United States through the
Grand Jury, and in continental countries through the
Examining Magistrate, a process is available for the judi-
cial investigation of crime before any person is charged. I
am not advocating either system, but am urging that the
current debate should be widened to include possible sys-
tems of investigation which will avoid the traps of self-
incrimination or ofputting the onus ofproving innocence on
an accused person.
On the question of bail, would it not be reasonable to
require an accused person to furnish security for his good
behaviour while on bail? It would certainly be less objec-
tionable than refusing bail, as at present proposed.
F. B. Geary,
5 Verona Villas,
O'Connell Avenue,
Limerick.
Presentation of Leather Bound copy of THE GARDA SIOCHANA GUIDE, 5th edition to Mr Desmond Moran,
Solicitor.
Mr W. Brendan Allen, President ofthe Law Society (on left)presents a leather bound copy of the Garda Siochana Guide
to Mr Desmond Moran, Solicitor and member ofthe Publications Committee, on whose initiation the 5th revised
edition ofthe Guide was prepared. Also pictured is Mr Michael V. O'Mahony, Chairman ofthe Publications
Committee.
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